{"id":101395,"date":"2025-10-31T08:03:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T08:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/31\/death-toll-rises-as-aid-struggles-to-reach-parts-of-jamaica\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T08:03:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T08:03:27","slug":"death-toll-rises-as-aid-struggles-to-reach-parts-of-jamaica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/31\/death-toll-rises-as-aid-struggles-to-reach-parts-of-jamaica\/","title":{"rendered":"Death toll rises as aid struggles to reach parts of Jamaica"},"content":{"rendered":"


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At least 19 people have died in Jamaica as a result of Hurricane Melissa, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon has said, as search and rescue efforts continue and authorities try to get aid to hard-hit areas.<\/p>\n

The hurricane, one of the most powerful to strike the Caribbean, has also killed at least 30 people in Haiti, officials said.<\/p>\n

In Jamaica, “there are entire communities that seem to be marooned and areas that seem to be flattened,” Dixon said, adding there are “devastating” scenes in western regions.<\/p>\n

Electricity remains out to most of the island and as people try to salvage damaged homes and belongings from floodwaters and mud, many thousands are growing increasingly desperate for aid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There are parts of the country that have been without water for several days and food is growing increasingly scarce.<\/p>\n

Aid supplies are starting to arrive more rapidly with the main airport in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, largely back to normal. <\/p>\n

But smaller regional airports, some of which are located near to where humanitarian assistance is most needed, remain only partly operational.<\/p>\n

As such, aid agencies and the military are bringing in the urgently needed supplies from Kingston via road, many of which remain unpassable in places.<\/p>\n

Satellite imagery shows nearly all buildings in some Jamaican villages<\/a> have been destroyed by the hurricane. <\/p>\n

Residents of towns in western Jamaica told the BBC on Thursday that “words can’t explain how devastating” the storm has been on the country.<\/p>\n

“No one is able to get through to their loved ones,” Trevor ‘Zyanigh’ Whyte told the BBC from the town of White House in Westmoreland parish. <\/p>\n

“Everyone is just, you know, completely disconnected… Every tree is on the road, right, so you can’t get too far with the cars, not even a bicycle,” he said.<\/p>\n

In Haiti, many of the victims in the storm died when a river overflowed in Petit-Goave. A full assessment is ongoing, as there are still areas that authorities have not been able to access.<\/p>\n

Around 15,000 people were staying in more than 120 shelters in Haiti, interim UN co-ordinator for the country Gregoire Goodstein said.<\/p>\n

In Cuba, more than 3 million people were “exposed to life-threatening conditions” during the hurricane, with 735,000 people “safely evacuated”, according to the UN’s resident co-ordinator for Cuba Francisco Pichon.<\/p>\n

No fatalities have been reported so far in Cuba, but almost 240 communities have been cut off due to flooding and landslides, Cuban authorities said.<\/p>\n

Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Tuesday in Jamaica as a category five storm, packing winds of up to 185 mph (295 km\/h), before impacting other countries in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Governments, humanitarian organisations and individuals around the world are pledging support for the nations hardest hit by the storm.<\/p>\n

The World Food Programme said it is collaborating with partners to coordinate logistics, cash and emergency supplies across Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

The US State Department said it is deploying a disaster response team to the region to help with search and rescue operations, and assisting in efforts to provide food, water, medical supplies, hygiene kits and temporary shelters.<\/p>\n

The UK government on Friday said it is mobilising an additional \u00a35m ($6m) to send humanitarian supplies, including shelter kits and solar powered lanterns, to help people without power and whose homes have been damaged.<\/p>\n

That is on top of \u00a32.5m ($3.36m) already announced in emergency humanitarian funding to support recovery in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

The Foreign Office is also preparing flights to evacuate British nationals unable to come home on commercial flights.<\/p>\n

While Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti assessed the damage left in Melissa’s wake, Bermuda braced for impact.<\/p>\n

The Bermuda Weather Service expected Melissa to be a category two hurricane when it passed the British overseas territory on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Government offices in Bermuda will close until Friday afternoon and all schools will shut on Friday.<\/p>\n

“Until the official ‘All Clear’ is issued, residents are urged to stay off the roads so Government work crews can safely assess and clear debris,” a public alert from the government said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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